Help!!! From Italy to CO on August for vacation

[jazzlover]

To answer your first question, CO 141 from Gateway to Dove Creek is pretty "non-tourist," except for the glitzy resort that the founder of the Discovery Channel has built right at Gateway (Yuk!). Would I spend 3 days out there?--probably not. Dove Creek is, well, pretty austere. I think there is one, maybe two motels in town--neither real great. Dove Creek's claim to fame is being the pinto-bean raising capital of Colorado. It's basically a farm town.

Lake City and Ouray are not far apart as the crow flies, but--unless you are 4-wheeling--there is some distance between the two. There are a couple of nice alternatives. One is to take US 550 north from Ouray to Ouray County Road 8 (Owl Creek Pass Road) right near Ridgway Dam. This is a gravel road that goes over Owl Creek Pass, then follows the Cimarron River drainage north to US 50 east of Cimarron. Though gravel, the road is generally easily passable in a passenger car, unless there has been heavy rain. It's a gorgeous drive. Once on US 50, you can head east a few miles to Gunnison County Road 25 (the Blue Mesa Cutoff Road) which will take you south to CO Hwy 149 and on to Lake City. Gunnison County Road 25 is also gravel, but should be easily passable in a car unless it has been raining a lot. This road goes through some nice sagebrush and ranch country--a lot of it owned by the Ute Indian Tribe. These roads will get off the "beaten track," but are good enough roads that you should be able to make it just fine. If you drive both of them, I would give yourself a half-day to make the trip from Ouray to Lake City--you will be stopping to take pictures, etc. along the way--I guarantee it! You are likely to see a fair amount of wildlife along both of them, especially early in the morning or near dusk--deer, elk, sage grouse, eagles, hawks, etc., etc. Or, if you are in a hurry, you can just take US 550 to Montrose, then US 50 to CO 149, then south on 149 to Lake City. Not an unpleasant drive, either, but longer in distance and not off of the beaten track. Check with some locals or the local county sheriff's office on road conditions--they should know.

By the way, there are Jeep rentals in either Lake City or Ouray if you want to be courageous and do a little 4-wheeling for a day. Be forewarned, though, that San Juan Jeep trails can run the gamut from mild to absolutely wild. I've been 4-wheeling there for almost 40 years and I have some pretty good "battle stories" from some definitely "hairy" 4WD adventures.

I will make a commercial plug here. Get yourself a copy of the Benchmark Colorado Road & Recreation Atlas (I may have mentioned this before). It is about the best Colorado atlas out there and shows most all of the auto-navigable roads in the state, as well as a lot of the 4WD trails. I keep mine with me in the vehicle all the time. All the roads I've mentioned are shown in it.

As to time, you could easily burn 2 weeks and never leave the San Juans. I spend as much time as I can in south-central and southwestern Colorado--and after doing that for going on a half-century, I'm still not tired of it.

[FromMilanoItaly]

Dear friends, here I'm again!
After some days of thinking what to do, I have decided to visit either San Juan Skyway Scenic Byway and Boulder.
As to San Juan Mountains, I'm still undecided about where to lodge for three nights: Ouray or Lake City?
And what about lodging in Gunnison? Maybe it would be cheeper...Can Gunnison ensure any nice (and easy) hiking trails, without compelling me to use my rented car to go to Ouray or Crested Butte?
Many many thanks from a rainy Italy.
Alessandro

[NewAgeRedneck]

If you stay in Ouray, you would have access to hiking trails from the downtown area. You'd never have to get in your car unless you chose to do some further exploration. Two weekends ago my wife and I spent a few nights at the Weisbaden Hot Springs Lodge, which we thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend.

I don't think you'd save any money by staying in Gunnison, then having to drive back and forth to Crested Butte. If you decide upon Crested Butte, you might consider staying in the International Hostel located there instead of staying in Gunnison. My wife and I stayed at the hostel last summer and we loved it. It's a great place to meet other travellers. You can also access hiking trails from downtown Crested Butte.

Rest assurred that whichever option you choose, you'll be immersed in spectacular surroundings. Have a great vacation.

[motoracer51]

Originally Posted by FromMilanoItaly

Dear friends, here I'm again!
After some days of thinking what to do, I have decided to visit either San Juan Skyway Scenic Byway and Boulder.
As to San Juan Mountains, I'm still undecided about where to lodge for three nights: Ouray or Lake City?
And what about lodging in Gunnison? Maybe it would be cheeper...Can Gunnison ensure any nice (and easy) hiking trails, without compelling me to use my rented car to go to Ouray or Crested Butte?
Many many thanks from a rainy Italy.
Alessandro

Hey Allesandro,
I'm not really active on this forum, but I saw your post, and figured I'd contact you.

Rainy Italy, you don;t have to tell me. I have a house in Bari, and we were there in April for a month, and I think it rained 25 out of the 30 days we were there!!

Regarding coming here, either IM me or email me, as I think we have a lot in common. My wife is an Italian citizen, as well as a practicing attorney in 4 states here in the US. We live in Palisade, about 15 miles east of the city of Grand Junction. We'd be happy to show you around.

Hope to hear from you.

Ciao.

Giovanni

[kayaklin]

Ouray = GOOD

Telluride = GOOD



Be sure to see those places! They are my favorites!